ACLU Urges San Jose City Council to Examine Police Department's Racial Data Collection Program


For Immediate Release: July 6, 2006

SAN JOSE – The ACLU of Northern California is calling upon the San Jose City Council to examine the San Jose Police Department’s (SJPD) commitment to its traffic stop data collection program. Following a shooting outside a downtown San Jose nightclub last October, it has been alleged that San Jose police officers engaged in racial profiling. The ACLU is concerned that SJPD may be backing away from its public commitment to collect and release data on the race and gender of people subjected to traffic stops by San Jose police officers.

“The SJPD was the first police department in California to implement a data collection program in 1999, and it is a shame that the SJPD may be backing away from its public commitment to this innovative program,” said Sanjeev Bery, San Jose Director for the ACLU-NC. “We are also troubled by the department’s repeated failure to comply with our requests for the most recent traffic stop data.”

In the July 6th letter, the ACLU is requesting the City Council and the Mayor to set aside a specific agenda item in the next meeting to evaluate SJPD practices regarding the Vehicle Stop Demographic Study and the Department’s compliance with the California Public Records Act. The next City Council meeting is scheduled for August 8th.

The ACLU sent a California Public Records Act request on November 22, 2005, following the alleged incidences of racial profiling in October. Two months later, SJPD responded with several documents but did not provide any racial data collected under the Department’s data collection program. Citing “human error,” as the reason for why they could not release the data, SJPD eventually stated that the ACLU would have to pay for the part-time salary of a SJPD database consultant to correct the problem.

“While the failure to provide the data is disturbing, even more absurd is SJPD’s suggestion that the ACLU pay for fixing the data,” said Bery. “SJPD should already have acted quickly to use the data in its possession to determine whether minority motorists were stopped and searched at disproportionate rates following the October 22, 2005 shooting. Access to data is critical to maintaining community trust in law enforcement.”

The ACLU suggests that the following questions be used as a starting point in the next City Council meeting:

What is SJPD’s current commitment to the Vehicle Stop Demographic Study?

What is SJPD’s timeline for addressing alleged errors in its data collection system and releasing past information?

What is SJPD’s current policy on honoring California Public Records Act requests?

What steps will SJPD take to ensure that future requests for information under the California Pubic Records Act request are honored?

“Our goal is to ensure that the SJPD’s data collection program live up to its promise and continue to serve the community,” said Bery. The letter was sent to the Mayor, San Jose City Councilmembers and the City Manager.